This season’s Premier League has not set the world alight, but it has certainly provided us with food for thought. From José Mourinho being sent off for kicking a water bottle on the touchline to John Terry’s peculiar sending off in the 26th minute, we have not been short of entertainment.
We take a look back at some of the standout points that has defined this year’s campaign.
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#1 Antonio ‘The Pragmatist’ Conte shows his tactical prowess
When Chelsea lost 3-0 to Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium back in September, Conte decided that he needed to change Chelsea’s system immediately.
“After a bad defeat against Arsenal… after that defeat I understood we had to change something in the tactical aspect and find the right solution, also to improve our work, our tactical work,” Conte said.
Ever since that game, Conte flipped the switch and changed to a three at the back formation which fortified the defence and allowed more freedom down the flanks to the attackers.
The new system turned Marcos Alonso and Victor Moses into pivotal players in the team, yet fans would not have thought it would be those two leading the title charge at the start of the season.
The change also brought the best out of Diego Costa. The Spanish international was now playing in a front three, alongside Eden Hazard and Pedro. The way the front line interchanged with one another caused havoc for opposition defences and reignited the fire in Costa’s game.
#2 The Manchester clubs are still incomplete despite spending millions
At the start of the season, especially after the £89m arrival of Paul Pogba, most Premier League fans would have thought that both Manchester United and Manchester City were title contenders.
However, while Chelsea lifted the trophy, the two Mancunian clubs finished third and sixth.
Pep Guardiola appears to have gone throughout the season without much criticism, while Mourinho has to face the brunt of ‘failure’.
There is no denying that both clubs should have done far better than what they achieved this season, but that will not hamper their chances of bringing in a world-class talent this summer.
Both United and City are backed by an enormous amount of wealth and will not be hesitant in spending hundreds of millions of pounds this summer. They will do what is needed to be done in order to find their way back to Premier League glory.
#3 There is no escaping the relegation drop – just ask Sunderland
Sunderland had been flirting with relegation for many years. The club have underinvested for several seasons and wasted the resources they did have on overrated players.
However, this season, Sunderland had reached new lows and levels of embarrassment. When David Moyes brought in Joleon Lescott, Bryan Oviedo, Darron Gibson and Stevan Pienaar, the world sat there and laughed.
These were all former players of Moyes at Everton and had an average age of 31, which didn’t exactly scream out vibrancy nor youthfulness. While experience is important, bringing in your old mates to get the band back together wasn’t what was needed at Sunderland.
The poor recruitment is a lesson to any newly-promoted Premier League team. Even Swansea, after a tumultuous summer, had been on the brink of relegation this season after performing so well throughout their time of being in England’s top flight division.
As a football club in the Premier League, investment pivotal in avoiding the dreaded drop to the Championship. Newcastle, Brighton and one of Huddersfield or Reading need to take note of Sunderland’s demise and allow heavy financial backing.
#4 Premier League is far behind Europe’s elite
It is no shock to see Premier League’s top teams falter on the European stage.
Tottenham failed to get out of their relatively easy Champions League group. Arsenal were routinely knocked out to Bayern Munich in an embarrassing display in the Round of 16. Manchester City squandered their lead to a very youthful AS Monaco team. It was Leicester City who were torch bearers of the Premier League - the only English team to make it to a Champions League quarter-final this season.
While Manchester United are in the Europa League final, it is not correct to say they are one of the European heavyweights - they will need to be on top form if they are to qualify for the prestigious Champions League next season.
So to have Leicester City, a team that finished 12th this season, represent the Premier League the furthest, pretty much sets the tone of how far they have fallen.
Football goes in cycles and eventually English clubs will come back around, but for now, it is increasingly disappointing to see, year on year, the Premier League ‘giants’ fall at the hands of teams that are operating on a fraction of their budget.
#5 Mid-table teams only strive for the magic 40 points and then give up
This has been a repetitive theme for some years now in the Premier League, personified by Tony Pulis’s West Bromwich Albion.
Every mid-table team strives for the 40 points that, historically, guarantees safety and another term in the Premier League.
However, like West Brom, who reached that magic mark in February, their motivation evades them and the supporters are left with the feeling of ‘what might have been’.
At the point of Pulis’ team reaching 40 points, they were only four points off Everton in seventh and a Europa League qualifying spot. That is something to strive for. That is what the fans want.
Yet, after reaching the 40 point mark, with 12 games remaining at the time (nearly a third of the season), West Brom ended up losing nine, drawing two and winning just one game. That is an utterly atrocious form card and one for which most managers would get sacked for if it was not for reaching 40 points.
Instead of settling for mid-table, like West Brom have done, they should be aiming for a Europa League finish. There appears not to be a big enough incentive for clubs to be maximising their season and this should be alarming for the Premier League.
Change is needed and we all want to see the likes of West Brom closing the gap on the ‘top six’ and finishing in a Europa League qualifying position.
